Fertilisation and environmental factors affect the yield and quality of alfalfa in China

Abstract

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a high-quality forage legume, often called the king of forages, that has been cultivated on more than 5.467 × 10 5 ha in China since 2020 (Wang and Xu 2021). The cultivated area of alfalfa has been expanding with the development of animal husbandry and the demand for returning farmland to grassland (Li 2002, Wang andXu 2021). However, the yield and quality of alfalfa in China fall short of meeting the escalating demands of the livestock industry (Zhang et al. 2009, Wang andXu 2021). The self-sufficiency rate of high-quality alfalfa in China was 64% during (Jin et al. 2021, while imports of alfalfa hay grew from 0.44 × 10 6 to 1.36 × 10 6 tons (Wang and Zhong 2021). Consequently, evaluating how to expand the yield and quality of alfalfa in China is important for the flourishing animal husbandry industry.The yield and quality of alfalfa are closely related to soil fertility. Reasonable fertilisation management and timely supplements of nutrients deficient in the soil (Bahulikar et al. 2020 increase the yield and quality of alfalfa (Wei et al. 2018). Fertilisation is a direct approach to improve the yield and quality of alfalfa (Fang et al. 2021, Wan et al. 2022. Many studies have explored the effects of fertiliser applications on the yield and quality of alfalfa (Fang et al. 2021, Wan et al. 2022). However, the results have varied substantially or were contradictory due to differences in cuttings, cultivars, water supply, soil, and environmental factors.Applying fertiliser significantly increases alfalfa quality (Wan et al. 2022), and alfalfa crude protein (CP), acid detergent fibre (ADF), and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) reflect its nutritional quality